Hebrew

[ hee-broo ]

noun

1. a member of the Semitic peoples inhabiting ancient Palestine and claiming descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; an Israelite.
2. a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic family, the language of the ancient Hebrews, which, although not in a vernacular use from 100 b.c. to the 20th century, was retained as the scholarly and liturgical language of Jews and is now the national language of Israel. : Heb

adjective

1. Hebraic.
2. noting or pertaining to the script developed from the Aramaic and early Hebraic alphabets, used since about the 3rd century b.c. for the writing of Hebrew, and later for Yiddish, Ladino, and other languages.

Hebrew

/ ˈhiːbruː /

noun

1. the ancient language of the Hebrews, revived as the official language of Israel. It belongs to the Canaanitic branch of the Semitic subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages
2. a member of an ancient Semitic people claiming descent from Abraham; an Israelite
3. archaic.
   a Jew

adjective

1. of or relating to the Hebrews or their language
2. archaic.
   Jewish

Hebrew

1. The language of the Hebrews , in which the Old Testament was written. It is the language of the modern state of Israel .

Other Words From

• non-Hebrew noun adjective
• pre-Hebrew adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Hebrew¹

before 1000; Middle English Hebreu, variant (with H- < Latin ) of Ebreu < Old French < Medieval Latin Ebrēus for Latin Hebraeus < Late Greek Hebraîos < Aramaic ʿIbhraij; replacing Old English Ebrēas (plural) < Medieval Latin Ebrēī

Word History and Origins

Origin of Hebrew¹

C13: from Old French Ebreu, from Latin Hebraeus, from Greek Hebraios, from Aramaic `ibhray, from Hebrew `ibhrī one from beyond (the river)

Example Sentences

Jenkins played baritone ukulele, harmonica, hummed and used bird calls in her work while pulling influences from Spanish, Chinese, Hebrew, Korean, Swahili and other languages.

From Los Angeles Times

During 22 years in jail he learnt Hebrew, studied his enemy and believed that he worked out how to fight them.

From BBC

In prison, Sinwar became fluent in Hebrew and proved an astute observer of Israeli politics.

From Los Angeles Times

Seven candles were lighted in honor of those who died, as well as first responders and others who helped to save victims; rabbis and cantors sang in Hebrew as the crowd held up battery-powered candles.

From Los Angeles Times

She was part of the base’s all-women military unit - known as Tatzpitaniyot in Hebrew - and their role was to study live surveillance footage captured by cameras along the fence.

From BBC